Next To You
by sugar-quill-93
Summary: Meredith and Justin are in the middle of their storybook love story. But when Death Eaters invade Hogwarts, everything changes...


Nights at Hogwarts were more magical than the days. Nights were when the stars shone in the countryside sky and the castle was at peace with them. At night, there would be no judgmental people, only those who wanted to be left alone together. It was at night, that the castle felt the safest. Nights were when I could finally see Justin again.

We had our secret spot, a little niche behind the pillars surrounding the courtyard. It was a place that was crowded during the day, full of people catching up on overdue homework. But at night, it transformed into a place of shadows and secrecy, the perfect place to carry out a love like mine and Justin's. A forbidden one.

I was a pureblood and a Slytherin. People thought Slytherin's only cared about themselves and that is true, even for me. But then I found Justin and the world changed. Before he happened, all I cared about was getting ahead. I let my ambition drive me and it drove me away from everyone except for other Slytherins. We knew that were considered cold and harsh, and we used that to our advantage. But Justin, he was like a beacon of golden warm light that obliterated that façade. It was him who brought me into the light.

Justin was a Muggle-born and a Ravenclaw. He was smart and funny and witty and he understood me. He understood my obsession with ambition but he also showed me that I didn't have to step on others to get what I wanted. Justin loved me unconditionally, something I'd never experienced before, not even in my own family. At home, to be loved by my mother and father, even my own brother, I had to prove myself worthy. But Justin, he would give me gifts even when I didn't deserve them and would always be kind to me, even if I wasn't kind to him. That type of selflessness made me fall in love with him.

But like all true loves, ours also came with pain. The pain of not being accepted. My brother, Darren, knew I had fallen for a Muggle-born, and I'd fallen hard. He was 17, a year older than me, and in Justin's year. Somehow, he always kept a watchful eye on us during the day. At first that didn't stop us. Love is something you have to fight for and Justin fought for me. Sometimes these would turn into physical fights and once ended with him in the hospital wing bleeding from every orifice. Darren was seriously dangerous. But love is also something that can't just be halted in its tracks. Justin and I stopped seeing each other during the day. I told my brother that I was wrong for liking him, but in truth, we just started meeting at night.

I closed the door as quietly as I could behind me and ran up the stairs from the dungeons. It was darker than usual out, but I knew the way to our niche by heart. I ducked behind a suit of armor as a teacher walked by, but continued on my way.

Justin was already waiting there when I came. I couldn't help but run and jump into his arms. As always he caught me and kissed me. But there was something different about this kiss. A kind of edge that I'd never felt before.

"What's up?" I asked him as we broke away. For a second his eyes furrowed, but then smoothed out.

"Nothing," he replied.

He pulled his fingers through my hair and kissed me softly on the lips again. His other hand rested on my neck and traced small circles there. I let out an involuntary laugh and felt his smile against mine.

"What?" he whispered, moving his lips to my ear and kissing me there.

"I love you," I said, turning my face around and kissing him again. His hand moved from my shoulder to my waist and pushed me backwards onto the pillar we were hiding behind. His hand moved under my shirt and rested on the skin there.

"I love you, too," he said.

I don't know how long we were standing there just kissing and looking at each other like we couldn't believe our luck. Sex wasn't strange for us, we had done it before. But tonight was different. Tonight was for talking the world away, for comforting away the stress of exams and contemplating the future.

"I got you something," he said, suddenly, pulling away from me.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver chain with a ruby pendant on it in the shape of a phoenix.

"Its beautiful," I gasped, "you didn't have to."

"It reminded me of you, when I saw it in Hogsmeade. " he said, "Want me to put it on?"

I nodded. His fingers brushed my hair aside but instead of feeling them on my neck putting on the necklace, I felt his lips again and laughed. He laughed too as he put the necklace on.

"I love it," I said as it fell around my neck, glittering and glowing, "thank you." I kissed him on the cheek. He grabbed me around the waist and pushed me back up against the wall and we just kept laughing. He stopped suddenly.

"Do you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" I giggled, still giddy from kissing. Justin clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Meredith!" came my brothers voice from the other side of the courtyard. I slid down to the ground and hid behind the wall, trying to pull Justin down with me.

"What are you doing!" I whispered, "You have to get down here. Darren is going to murder you!"

Not once did I see fear in his eyes. Instead, he grabbed my hand and said, "We'll be alright. I promise." And then he looked out from behind the pillar, right at my brother.

"Justin!" yelled Darren, charging through the courtyard and coming into our alcove. He saw me on the ground, grabbed me by the shoulders, and yanked me up. My hand was ripped apart from Justin's. "I told you, you were forbidden from seeing him. Never again, Meredith!"

"Darren," I screamed as he started pulling me away from Justin, "I love him. You can't do this!" I broke free of his grip and ran back into Justin's arms.

"Don't let him take me away," I sobbed into Justin's shoulder but I felt my brother's grip on my arm again, pulling me backwards.

"You have to go," Justin said quietly into my hair. And then, he removed my arms from around him, defying all possible logic. He just stood there, not chasing after me, not fighting for me as Darren dragged me away.

"You'll never see him again!" he shouted leading me through the passages of the castle. I wasn't sure if I was fighting him or if I was going willingly. Justin's sudden surrender had left me dazed and confused.

We walked into the Great Hall when the world collapsed. One minute the castle was peaceful, the next sound like a crash and the walls started to shake. I heard people start to move about as another crash shook the castle.

"Why aren't we going anywhere? Let's go!" I yelled over the crashes, which were becoming louder now, I tried pulling Darren back toward the entrance but he wouldn't budge. People were starting to come into the Great Hall now, confused and still in their pajamas. They held their wands out. "Darren, what's going on?"

"The Death Eaters are going to attack the castle. We're leaving with them," Darren said calmly. And as if on cue, another crash ran through the building, only this time it was the crash of thunder in the sky. Like every other student in the hall, I instinctively looked at the bewitched sky on the ceiling. And then, like every other student in the hall, I screamed. A Dark Mark had appeared, twisting and turning between the clouds. My blood ran cold and for a moment all I could think about was Justin in the courtyard, seeing the actual sky.

"Darren, what have you done?" I squeaked, but before he could answer there was more screaming outside and everything had suddenly been enveloped in a cloud of smoke and debris. It was like a bomb had gone off, only something much, much, worse. The sky had turned almost black.

Darren grabbed me and forced me down onto the ground underneath a House table as the walls were blown apart by someone in a black robe. Everyone screamed and then there was even more chaos. From my lowly vantage point, I saw more and more Death Eaters start to gather in the hall. There was a brief moment of silence. A quiet before the storm…

Then, one by one, the Death Eaters started throwing curses at the students. The walls and windows started exploding the people started to run toward the door. And then the students started fighting back. Shouts of _stupefy _and _petrificus totalus_ filled the air.

"Darren," I said in a muffled voice, "You need to get off of me."

"What, so you can run back to that filthy mudblood of yours?" he said, "Just shut up. We're going to wait this out, and then we're going."

"NO!" I screamed at him, "I'm going now." I managed to grab my wand from my pocket but Darren wrestled it away from me. He flipped me underneath him and held and hand to my mouth.

"This is for your own good," he said, "I don't want to hurt you."

The same thought wasn't running through my mind. All I could think about was Justin. I knew he'd be able to defend himself, he was a Ravenclaw after all. But the truth was, I knew he'd come looking for me and the longer I stayed in the Great Hall with all these Death Eaters here, the more I was putting _him_ in danger. So I bit down as hard as I could on Darren's hand.

"WHAT!" he screamed in pain and confusion. I took that moment to grab my wand back and get up from under the table. I looked back at Darren, his face still contorted as he was trying to extricate himself, but I had already made my decision. I ran.

I ran out of the Great Hall, dodging spells, jets of red and blue light, hiding behind fallen stones and walls. But the second I had managed to get out of there, I realized things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Outside, there were even more Death Eaters battling teachers, Aurors and students. Green lights were being shot around, people were aiming to kill and so the walls were crumbling each time a spell hit them. But in my heart, I didn't care. I just needed to find Justin. I charged into battle.

"_STUPEFY!_" I screamed at the first Death Eater I saw. He fell to the ground. But one of his friends was now coming toward me.

"Reducto!" he yelled. I blocked it with a Shield Charm and shot a curse back at him. He went flying backwards into a pile of rubble and stopped moving.

I kept throwing curses and jinxes around me. I don't even know what I was doing. All I knew was that I needed to get to our alcove. To Justin. I needed to see him.

Finally I stepped out of the castle into the courtyard, where the battle was still going on under the light from the Dark Mark in the sky. I pressed myself up against a wall of the castle and looked around one of the pillars into the courtyard. The air was filled with screams and yells and curses, there was a fire blazing in the middle of the square. Bodies littered the ground. Then suddenly I saw him. Saw Justin. Like he sensed it, he turned around and saw me too.

For a moment the world was peaceful, and then it exploded. The wall and window I was leaning against burst apart, throwing me headfirst through the air. I landed hard on a pillar, and could have sworn I heard my skull crack. The bricks from the explosion landed on me, ripping open my skin. It was nothing. I knew I was going to get up and keep running again. But the moment I tried, pain shot through my stomach that rivaled the pain in my neck.

I looked down at my hands which had moved involuntarily to my stomach. They were covered in blood. And then, I looked at my actual stomach. A shard of stained glass was protruding from me. I wanted to scream but no sound came out. I could feel my body start to stop. My heart was beating faster, like it knew it only had so much time left. I started to shake and my teeth started to chatter. A strange lightheadedness came over me and I fell to my knees.

No words were coming out of my mouth. I couldn't reach out to him, and he was too far away to come to me.

"I love you," I mouthed.

But Justin didn't say anything back. Instead, he ran toward me, pushing people out of his way, sending curses at Death Eaters. I could barely see him, though, the world was going dark and fuzzy.

"Mer!" he shouted, picking my head up and cradling it on his lap, "No, Mer."

My eyes were starting to hurt so I closed them.

"No, no, Mer. Stay with me. Stay awake!" he yelled with such compassion that I forced my eyes back open. I needed to stay with him. "I need to get you out of here," he said. I felt him bring my arms around his neck and he lifted me up into his arms.

Then everything was gone.


End file.
